SHYAMAPADA PATI Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner is working as an approved teacher in the Science and Mathematics Group in the Kharagpur South Side High School (H.S.), since May 23, 1985 against a substantive post. The petitioner desired to improve his qualification in the relevant teaching subject and group. He made an application before the school authority on August 26, 2000 for issuance of No Objection Certificate to pursue an M.Sc. course. The petitioner completed the post graduation in 2003 and made a prayer before the concerned respondents for grant of post graduate scale of pay. The school authority forwarded the claim of the petitioner to the District Inspector of Schools (S.E.), Paschim Medinipur (hereafter referred to as the said D.I.). The said D.I. by Memo dated September 13, 2004 sought for certain clarifications from the school authority with regard to the prior permission and the school authority by a letter dated September 24, 2004 clarified the queries of the said D.I. Thereafter an administrator was appointed in the school and by an order dated January 20, 2006 the administrator approved the post graduate scale of pay in favour of the petitioner and the headmaster of the school was requested to submit relevant papers along with the application of the petitioner to the Additional District Inspector of Schools (S.E.) Kharagpur Sub-Division. The documents were forwarded to the concerned Additional District Inspector of Schools by the school authority on February 8, 2006. Thereafter no steps were taken by the authorities for grant of higher scale of pay to the petitioner. The petitioner by a letter, issued through his learned advocate dated February 25, 2010, demanded justice before the said D.I. as the prayer for higher scale of pay of the petitioner was not considered by the authority.

(2.) Being aggrieved by the inaction on the part of the said D.I., the petitioner preferred a writ petition before this Court being numbered as W.P. 17080(W) of 2010. The said writ petition came up for hearing before a coordinate Bench of this Court. By an order dated September 2, 2010, His Lordship directed the District Inspector of Schools (S.E.), Paschim Medinipur to dispose of the pending applications of the petitioner as also the school authorities with regard to the higher scale of pay to the petitioner.

(3.) By an order dated March 9, 2011, the District Inspector of Schools (S.E), Paschim Medinipur considered and disposed of the representation of the petitioner by rejecting the claim for higher scale of pay on the ground that G.O. No. 548-SE(S) dated June 24, 1997 was a bar and declined to grant higher scale of pay to the petitioner. The said G.O. provided that the teachers of different State aided schools would have to take prior permission from the concerned D.I. through the managing committee/administrator if they wished to enroll themselves and appear for examinations conducted through correspondence/distance mode of education from a university recognised by the University Grants Commission.